For the first time, no new confirmed Covid-19 case in China
CONFIRMED INFECTIONS IN THE MAINLAND STOOD AT 82,971 AND THE NUMBER OF FATALITIES REMAINED UNCHANGED AT 4,634
recorded no new confirmed Covid-19 cases on the mainland on Friday, making it the first time that the country has seen no daily rise in the number of cases since the deadly coronavirus pandemic began in the central city of Wuhan late last year.
The National Health Commission (NHC) said in a statement on Saturday that this compared to four new cases on the previous day. The NHC said that there were two new suspected cases: an imported one in Shanghai and locally transmitted case in the northeastern province of Jilin.
New asymptomatic cases of the coronavirus fell to 28 from 35 a day earlier, the NHC said.
China has seen a sharp fall in locally transmitted cases since March as major restrictions on people movement helped it to take control of the epidemic in many parts of the country. However, it has continued to see an influx of imported cases, mainly involving Chinese nationals returning from abroad, while new clusters of infections in the northeastern border provinces of Jilin and Heilongjiang have emerged in recent weeks.
CHINA’S TOP DISEASE CONTROL OFFICIAL ACCEPTS CRITICISM China’s top disease control official said on Saturday that public criticism over the initial outbreak was understandable, but defended Beijing’s response to the crisis. “With such a large epidemic in China and the world, it is very normal to receive criticism from the public,” Gao Fu, director of China’s disease control and prevention centre, told reporters. He said the nation’s response was “good” compared with other countries as it had to handle a “closed-book exam.” The number of confirmed infections in the mainland stood at 82,971 and the number of fatalities remained unchanged at 4,634.
WUHAN CONDUCTS 1,470,950 TESTS IN 1 DAY Wuhan conducted 1,470,950 nucleic acid tests for the virus on Friday, the local health authority said on Saturday, compared with 1,000,729 tests the previous day. Wuhan kicked off a campaign on May 14 to look for asymptomatic carriers — infected people who show no outward sign of illness — after confirming on May 9-10 its first cluster of infections since its lockdown was lifted on April 8.